


Blooming Peonies

by cloverhoon



Category: Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Gen, Rushed, daniel i miss you so much, dont let the tags fool you, half canon half hoping-to-be-canon, hope jisung stays hydrated and have a good sleep, jihoon's manager gives jihoon the best birthday gift ever, there is no relationship at all, wanna one has no end, wanna one is forever
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-29
Updated: 2019-05-29
Packaged: 2020-03-27 14:31:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19014826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cloverhoon/pseuds/cloverhoon
Summary: Jihoon is loved by many and everyone makes sure to let him know. On his birthday.





	Blooming Peonies

**Author's Note:**

> un-beta'ed and rushed.
> 
> happiest birthday to my favorite boy, park jihoon! hope you enjoy your day!

 

 

_When you see the bright light after passing a long tunnel_

_You can feel the warm memories that we’ve shared together_

 

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“Let’s meet again when the spring breeze passed by”

Sungwoon had once sent it directly to their group chat after that certain event on January 27th full of grief, misery and tears – and no, nobody in particular was dead, thank you, but rather one as emotionally draining as it: the parting of 11 brothers and their Wannables. Ah, yes, Wannables. Jihoon missed saying that out loud. It has always been at the tip of his tongue but alas, he can no longer speak of it anymore as he has his own fandom name now, May (who knows K-pop works that way). Surprisingly, he’s fine with it as the time goes, as he realized that 90% of his Mays are once Wannables and those names are just terms to refer those people who support him unconditionally. And in return, he will always do his best.

Like now, he is doing his best to stop _sulking_.

It’s 11 past midnight on a not-so-normal-and-borderline-special Wednesday. On any other day ( _or Wednesday_ , in this case), Jihoon has no reason to do so except for Max’s ignorance towards him. _How rude_ , he usually scoffs. Yet on this day, just this day, Jihoon thinks he has the right to be grumpy over the fact that none of his brothers congratulate him on his birthday. Well, aside from his own biological brother since they live under the same roof and he, along with their parents, had barged the younger’s bedroom earlier that night to give him a great big hug, followed by an excited Max whose tail couldn’t seem to stop waggling. But that alone doesn’t quite fill the emptiness he feels when he receives 0 notification from the group chat.

But it’s not Park Jihoon if he keeps on swimming in this sea full of uncertainties and doubts – mostly of his own baseless assumptions of they-hate-me-now(s) which he himself knows for sure is untrue. (But hey, the chat was alive to congratulate Jaehwan for hist first win, Seongwu just posted his breathtaking photos on Instagram and his best ‘bro’ bro Woojin ended his VLive exactly 30 minutes to midnight, so you know where the insecurities come from). So he unlocks his phone once again and embraces the blue birdie app where he can scroll the #HappyJihoonDay tag. He has this urge to reply to all of them, to say how thankful he is for them to be a part of his life, but replying to ten thousands of them is downright impossible. The only possibility of that action is his manager banning him from ever meeting Max again (yes, it’s the worst outcome he can think of) because first, Park Jihoon Official Twitter account is replying to fans and second, the said account is now suspended for over-replying. He shudders at the thought and continue saving his own fansites-taken pictures. Until this day, he has no idea how fansites can smuggle their cameras and take these super gorgeous shots as well as enhancing them later on with photoshop. Jihoon can only think they are blessed with a God-tier skills (and dedication).

When he thinks that it’s too late already, too thankful of his fans’ tremendous love for him, he decides that he should rest. Well, at least it was before Hyeop video called him and who is he to decline it? The older wishes him a happy birthday and they talk about things – life, career and such. Jihoon feels indebted to Hyeop as he is the one who dragged him to join Produce 101, and the rest is history. And as an individual who sucks at maintaining his friendship aside from blabbering ‘let’s keep in touch’, he is extremely grateful for his attempts to reach out to him first, thus explains the long lasting friendship. The video call doesn’t last long though as Hyeop notices Jihoon’s droopy eyes and calls it a day. _Rest well, birthday boy_ , he says before ending the call.

And thus Jihoon is brought to dreamland.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Surprisingly, Maroo has his schedules cleared the next morning. Jihoon raises his eyebrows in confusion. When did Maroo become so nice? He calls his manager just to be sure because no drama practice? No sudden photoshoot? And _yup, today’s his lucky day._ He only has the birthday Vlive at 7 PM later in the company, so he settles on wandering around Seoul and visit his café events before the designated time.

“Wear a mask at least,” reminds his mother. “Who knows there’s a sasaeng following you.”

“Mom,” Jihoon whines, displaying his killer pout. “Last time I checked no one even recognized me. Remember when I went to check out that as? And as a matter of fact, I stood in front of that for 15 minutes.”

She chuckles. “No need to remind me. But today’s different, isn’t it? Your fans will swarm these cafés and God knows what they’ll do if they catch a glimpse of my baby boy.”

“Sasaeng, mom. Sasaeng. My fans will definitely cause no harm to me,” he tries to reassure her. “And it’s a weekday! Everyone has their hands full of their own responsibilities.”

“Point taken. But just wear the mask for safety measures, will you? Manger Choi will be fuming if he knows you roam around without something to cover your face. _On your birthday_.” She adds.

“Okay, I get it.” Jihoon relents. He reaches for the door and make sure he doesn’t wear anything funny because he and his fans know that his fashion sense is sometimes questionable. Who knows there’s a sasaeng who’s alarmed by his choice of outfit, right? “I’ll be sure to give you actual time report of my whereabouts, ma’am. Adios!”

“No need. Just send that report to your manager. He’ll be more delighted to receive it than me.”

Sometimes he wonders if his manager is his real mother…

 

 

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… And if his mother is a clairvoyant.

Jihoon is 21 years old when he learns no to underestimate everyone’s love form him. He also discovers that a queue can be _this_ long. People are really crowding his café events, bringing mini versions of himself dressed in super cute clothes along. Muggles may think that this is a shrine dedicated for Jihoon, Jihoon land, with all of his face plastered on the sides of the window and banners screaming ‘Happy Birthday Jihoon!’ with bubbly font hanging inside and outside the café. _What_.

As if those aren’t enough, he can clearly spot the particular deadly slogans in which Jihoon is flashing his hard-earned abs on some of the girls’ head from afar, acting as a shield from the equally deadly blazing sun. And as if on cue, he can feel sweat trickling down his spine. Jihoon forgets it's the beginning of summer already. Now Jihoon faces a dilemma – should he barge into the café directly? His fans won’t mind, sure, but that’ll be rude and the chances of a sasaeng nearby is 75% and he doesn’t want to risk losing a limb on his birthday trying to escape a bloody war between his fans and sasaeng. Queuing isn’t that much of an option, he’s doing it as of the moment while wilting like a drying plant. But if he leaves now, that will taint the name of the almighty NinjaHoon – which is short for Ninja Jihoon.

It turns out that he doesn’t need to contemplate much as people starts to murmur while eyeing him curiously. One clueless girl, fitted neatly in her school uniform, voices their opinions in one single question: “Isn’t that Park Jihoon?” and every head of different colours on the line turns to him in a heartbeat, someone who sits near the window cranes her neck to get a better view of him. _Yeah, so much for the record-breaking stealthy NinjaHoon_. To Jihoon’s surprise, he isn’t presented with a mass flocking him, but instead what he receives is his fans singing him the birthday song.

_Happy birthday to you!_

_Happy birthday to you!_

_Happy birthday Park Jihoon!_

_Happy birthday to you!_

And in that specific moment, he believes he has never heard a voice as beautiful as this and reminds himself to ask his manager to let his fans perform on stage in place of him.

 

( _His fans lets him get inside first and Jihoon buys them all drinks in return because he highly regards the give and take principles._ )

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 **Park Wingging:** Jihoon-ah~~~ There are Wanna One members behind you

_Oh?_

After superbly handling the question asking if the members had congratulated him, he faces a dead end. Jihoon perfectly knows it’s a baseless statement and shares the same energy as ‘there’s a ghost behind you!’, but as stupid as it sounds, ghost sighting exists even though it’s quite rare… same goes for this case.

“Ehh no way,” Jihoon looks over his shoulder while laughing, but deep inside he wishes that it’s true. As much as the fans want, the 11 of them hope to be reunited too, full team. But their schedules just don’t match. The nearest thing that can be called as a complete reunion is during KCON Japan where 6/11 members were present, including himself. They planned to meet the night after the first day but unfortunately Jihoon’s sour luck kicked in – he had a ‘sudden’ photoshoot and he couldn’t possibly complain, so that’s it. When he doesn’t find anyone behind him – _thank God, it could be ghost_ – Jihoon buried his disappointment so deep he manages to cast his 1000-watt smile flawlessly. “Hahaha don’t lie to me, Mays.”

On the other side of the camera, Manager Choi taps his watch, signalling him to end the live.

“Mays, I want to continue all night long but it’s late already. You have to prepare for tomorrow right? Bye... Ah, I mean it. Bye~ No? You don’t want me to go? Hahaha… I’ll miss you too. Good night, bye!”

Manager Choi stands up from his seat and approaches the younger. “You’ve worked hard today.”

“That… is an overstatement.” Jihoon sighs. “All I do today is sit down and let everyone else showers me with love.”

“So why the long face?”

“Maroo bought the wrong cake.” He points at the cake in front of him. It’s pink – something Jihoon would die for but—

“We both know it’s not the reason why.”

Jihoon hitches his breath. Does his manager know? About his insecurities when none of his members remember his birthday? He has no way to access his kakao talk… right?

“You just want a bigger cake.” Manager Choi adds. “Now, now. Be grateful, young one. Maroo even gave you a ticket to Hawaii.”

Hawaii, yes. Woojin’s dream destination. He wants to tease the younger but well, he maybe doesn’t even know Jihoon will fly to Hawaii. _If it is even legit_. Why is everything reminding him of them, anyway?

“That’s not what I meant but okay. Anything to please my favourite hyung,” he pouts. “Which reminds me... You said you’ll give me the best birthday present ever. Where is it?”

“And here I thought you would forget about it already, brat.” The older chuckles. “Wait here. It should be somewhere outside.”

Jihoon hums as a response while checking the group chat again. Still no new message. He feels so small inside the practice room he’s in. Although the practice room during his Wanna One days is more spacious, but the warmth, laughter and the existence of his always-reliable 10 brothers fills the entire room. Here, it just feels empty. As he is about to sympathize with his sorry ass, everything goes black.

“Not again,” he grunts. Maroo may treat Jihoon well beyond expectations, but Maroo is still a small company. Hence explains the electricity issues. Usually, the lights will flicker and come back on. But this time, it remains pitch black.

When his eyes are adjusted to the dark already, he reaches for the door. “Hyung, can you hear me?”

Unconsciously, he makes his way through the hall and regrets it immediately. _I should have texted him instead._ He can clearly hear Daehwi’s voice saying how dumb he is. Except it doesn’t come from his head. It’s from the room across him. _Huh_.

_“Like I said, Jihoon-hyung is a moron.”_

_“Sshh he can hear you.”_

_“How long should we wait? I’m rotting here.”_

_“Shut up, Bae Jinyoung.”_

_“Uh guys? Quick question – how can he know we’re here?”_

_“Shut up!”_

Jihoon isn’t sure if he’s hearing _things_. Does he miss him that much that he projects their voices _outside_ his head? Sounds impossible, so to say.

_“Okay. I can’t stand it anymore—“_

_“Park Woojin, come back here at once!”_

The door blasts open. Jihoon is greeted by a red haired boy who he knows all too well.

“If you want to catch me then come here your— Oh, he’s here,” the red haired states intelligently. “Hello, Jihoonie.” He smiles at him, snaggletooth peeking at the side, then slams the door right at his face.

_“Shit. Shit. Shit. He’s here!”_

_“You should think of it before you open the door, hyung.”_

_“Now what do we do?”_

_“That’s it! I’ve lost my patience.”_

Jihoon can hear rushed footsteps before the door is opened again. “Will you come in or not? I didn’t rush from Show Champion for you to stand dumbly in front of the door.” Daehwi says through clenched teeth _(“Hey, me too!”_ exclaim Jaehwan and Woojin in unison). Now, this version of Daehwi is not what Jihoon expects to meet.

He, too, doesn’t expect to see Sungwoon, Minhyun, Seongwu, Jaehwan, Woojin, Jinyoung, Daehwi and Kuanlin cramped at the other side of the room. Kuanlin fails to hold his laughter as a few snickers escapes his mouth. But that is nothing compared to the monstrous laugh coming from Wanna One’s pride main vocalists which echoes throughout the room.

“Minhyun-hyung, I thought you would keep the situation perfectly calm and _serene_.” Daehwi whines.

“Bold of you to assume I can tame these wild beasts. Well, now that _things_ happened… Let’s just continue with the procession, shall we?” Minhyun clears his throat. “Uhm, Jaehwan?”

Jaehwan seems to notice the two pair of eyes boring into him because he composes himself immediately before belting his high notes. _“Happy Birthdaaaayyy to youuuu!”_

And that is the cue for chaos.

Woojin runs around the already cramped room while screaming his trademark ‘AIYAAAK’, influencing Kuanlin to do exactly the same, but sadly the latter trips over Jaehwan’s foot, erupting Sungwoon’s laughter. Seongwu doesn’t fail to catch everything on his camera and Minhyun just giggles at anything before him. “This isn’t what we planned!” Daehwi exclaims.

But Jihoon’s fine with it. It’s more than enough.

“Hey, you okay? You haven’t uttered a single word since you entered.” Jinyoung asks him. Aside from being a complete brat towards him, Jihoon can say that Jinyoung understands him the best, being the only introverts in the group. “Don’t say that… You thought we forgot your birthday? Us? How can we?” he adds incredulously.

“…”

The younger but definitely wiser shakes his head and sighs. “You and your stupid thoughts. You think too much for your own good. And you spent your last two birthdays with me, so I’m thinking of spending the third one with you as well.”

 

“Anyway you should really thank the guys. They really make time to come here, you see? You know how packed their schedules are, not that I’m free myself, but you get the point right? And—“ As Jinyoung continues to ramble, Jihoon walks to the center of the room.

“Thank you everyone.” Jihoon’s voice is small but sincere. “I couldn’t have asked for more.”

This seems to grab everyone’s attention around the room.

“Oh I thought he couldn’t speak.”

“About freaking time!”

“Guys. We have a _moment_ here.”

Seongwu approaches him. “Really? You don’t want Jisung’s and Daniel’s letter?”

Jihoon’s eyes widen. “There is?”

“No,” Seongwu chuckles. “But I know they wish you a happy birthday and plead to God to let us grace you with our existence and save your sorry ass. We know well that these things can’t be measured with mere interactions, for our friendship is far beyond that.”

“Touché,” whistles Woojin.

“Now gentlemen,” said Seongwu solemnly. “It is time for—group hug!!!” Before he knows it, Jihoon is pulled into a big hug, followed by a chorus of ‘happy birthday’s and one ‘take me to Hawaii too!’ which sounds too much like Woojin, surrounded by his most favourite people on planet earth.

 _Yeah,_ Jihoon thinks. _More than enough._

To any pedestrian, there is nothing different in Maroo today. Little do they know, the small room in the second floor of Maroo is filled with warmth, laughter and the existence of brothers who once shook the entire South Korea and have promised to be there for one another, for nothing can taint their friendship.

 

 

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_Once a Wanna One,_

_Once a Wannable,_

_We will go together until the end._

_\- Park Jihoon -_

 

**Author's Note:**

> Phew! This is extremely rushed so that I can act like this is a gift for Jihoon woops. Anyway, hope you guys enjoy it! As always, comments and kudos are appreciated <3


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